The tax landscape is ever-evolving, but so has Pennsylvania-based tax solutions provider Vertex. Founded over 40 years ago, it began selling paper copies of sales tax directories and manuals of the different tax jurisdictions throughout the country. Now, in 2023, it is a major provider of indirect tax solutions covering both business-to-business and business-to-consumer contexts. Its software walks users through a range of situations from tax determinations and tax compliance to tax data management, and invoicing and payments. Yet, the core mission of guiding clients through the complex landscape has remained unchanged despite all this change.
In recent years, Vertex's attention has turned toward the cloud, having recently launched an edge cloud version of its O Series solution. The software takes advantage of edge cloud calculations — in contrast to pure cloud applications, calculations can be performed either locally or in data centers. This is part of a larger move toward cloud computing that is anticipated to become the focal point of the company's work, as businesses are demanding more reliability and less latency than ever before.
Vertex's vice president of technology strategy, Chris Zangrilli, leads the company's broad strategic and innovation efforts to drive growth. He took the time to talk with Accounting Today about where the company has been and where it is going in the future.
How would you best describe what your company does?
Zangrilli: Vertex is a global leader of indirect tax solutions. We provide our clients with technology solutions to address the complexities of the tax industry, whether by automating their business processes or helping them navigate the ever-changing world of tax compliance.
We know that the tax landscape is constantly changing and evolving with trends and regulations, and companies need to continually adapt to the changing or varying tax laws — we work to make that as seamless as possible.
What is in your product line, and what is your flagship product?
Zangrilli: Vertex provides end-to-end tax solutions that address complexities across global businesses, commerce platforms and the marketplace — whether that is B2B or B2C. Our products focus on solutions that help organizations work through a range of tax-based challenges, from tax determinations and tax compliance to tax data management, and invoicing and payments, too.
Our flagship products focus on the tax determination components that are tailored to fit a client's tax business and serve them properly.
What product of yours do you think should be better known among accountants?
Zangrilli: Our O Series solution is what we're best known for, but Vertex's tax automation solutions support businesses of all sizes from enterprise to SMBs. In the professional accounting/CPA firm services space, Vertex's exclusive
What was the last big initiative or project your company completed?
Zangrilli: We launched the Vertex O Series Edge cloud solution in 2022. It is a containerized version of our O Series solution. The Edge can significantly improve and automate tax operations. It enables these tax calculations no matter where the transaction occurs — locally, in the store, or in an e-commerce data center.
This was created specifically to help businesses who need to process transactions anywhere or anytime, with no latency or dependencies on connectivity. We have seen it become a more prevalent need in recent years as consumers and businesses expect a more seamless transaction. This solution was built for that customer experience while also allowing businesses to stay compliant.
What is the most exciting new thing you're working on?
Zangrilli: I see cloud capability continuing to become a focal point of Vertex's work, pushing and extending our capabilities and solutions into the cloud. By extending more into cloud offerings, we can offer more solutions in the global compliance space.
Lately, we see that consumers and businesses have a "digital expectation," and we want our products to meet business' needs and allow that seamless customer experience as digital innovations continue to grow. We're always looking into how we can improve and expand our cloud technology as digital transformations continue to take place and expand.
What differentiates your company from others similar to it?
Zangrilli: Vertex has always helped companies automate their tax calculations to ensure compliance. By focusing on automation through cloud and digital transformation, we have the breadth and depth to help companies meet the challenges that the tax landscape presents.
No matter the size of your tax team, you need to have an understanding of the technology that you are using. Vertex has the flexibility to educate and embrace partners to work with accounting firms and clients from service to market.
What is the biggest challenge facing companies like yours right now?
Zangrilli: Right now, we're seeing rapid growth in commerce that can directly impact the tax and retail space. This does require a large amount of automation to keep up with that growth. If you add that to the recent dramatic intake of digital transformation, there are now a lot of touchpoints for businesses that are impacting them on a regular basis.
For example, e-commerce is rapidly growing in the retail space, and it is leading to an omnichannel perspective where consumers are buying online and then going in-store because it can lead to a more seamless transaction. However, I look at it from a tax transaction perspective — we want to automate the solution, so the different touchpoints of the transaction happen automatically. Vertex's solutions work with companies to provide them with this level of automation to keep up with the tax complexities arising from trends that we're seeing.
What is the biggest challenge with selling to this market?
Zangrilli: I'm interested in the way tax is intertwined with everything, including societal trends and interests; however, it does mean that we need to be constantly aware and ready to adapt to new regulations and tax changes. We see a lot of shifts in behavior, and companies are becoming more mindful of, for example, sustainability and health. We see tax changes reflecting that mindset. As a company, we need to be aware of how to tax recycled materials or how tax applies to the health conversation. We also need to know how it differs by state, county and even country.
Vertex at a Glance:
HQ: King of Prussia, Pa.
Countries supported: 130
Customers: 4,300
Website:
Number of employees: Over1,400
This has been part of our regular Vendor Spotlight series. To see previous Vendor Spotlights,
